Making some progress. Got the body off of the chassis. Those bolts were sure rusty. Most of them broke off. We had to use a grinder to cut off the lower bulkhead bolts and one of the rear roll cage support bracket bolts.

Andrew, sorry for the delayed response. I don't have the part number, but if you don't have it by now....just google defender alpine sub UK it'll come up. It was a pain in the ass to order, but it gives good range....but not a huge thump like my old kenwood dual 12" old box! But given its low profile, easy of install behind the center console I love it. I didn't want anything on the rear door as it'd be more exposed to the elements and take away from cargo. I've also seen a replacement frame that swaps out the battery seat box panel for a spot to mount a small sub under the seat. Also not a bad option

Isn't the name of the game to reduce galvanic corrosion between dissimilar metals at the points where the fasteners contact the thing being fastened? According to this you'd have a greater difference between iron/steel and nickel than with copper.

Let’s see if I’m understanding this correctly. There’s only 0.05-0.10 V difference in the "Anodic Index” between aluminum and iron, so typically galvanic corrosion would not occur when they are in contact with each other, but in an environment where iron rusts such as in the presence of water (which enables movement of electrons), there’s galvanic corrosion of the aluminum because iron is more cathodic (higher standard reduction potential). And when the steel that is in contact with aluminum is coated with zinc it prevents galvanic corrosion of the aluminum because it’s more anodic (higher standard oxidation potential). But then wouldn’t the aluminum eventually cause the zinc coating to corrode away especially since there’s 0.30-0.35 V difference between them? So would it then be best to try to prevent contact between aluminum and galvanized steel? And now I can see why using stainless steel fasteners is a bad idea since it’s more cathodic than regular steel.

"Problems can also occur where the metallic combination is galvanised steel and aluminium. The zinc coating of the galvanised steel will, at first, prevent the aluminium being attacked. However, this protection disappears when the steel surface is exposed after the consumption of the zinc.

So that's interesting. In a harsh environment like the NE where they salt the roads I could see that eventually galvanized parts on a Rover would need to be re-galvanized. In Oregon though where things don't rust much I probably won't have to worry about that.

I just like wurth Charles. It seems nicer, but there is no principled reason other than I think copper is better. There is usually a dealer somewhere. The HS2000 (or whatever they call it now) is the best spray lubricant I have found.

Andrew, I am still totally unsure what's best for this, other than physical separation of the steel and aluminum with plastic or rubber where possible. I guess for the ant-seize we are mainly talking steel on steel right?

I use anti-seize for anything stainless to keep the threads from galling, but I don't rely on it exclusively to separate metals. I like to cut my favorite pond liner washers for lots of things and also make washers out of heavier plastic as well. I always have trouble getting the washers I want so that's why I cut my own.

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Jim Cheney

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Andrew, I am still totally unsure what's best for this, other than physical separation of the steel and aluminum with plastic or rubber where possible. I guess for the ant-seize we are mainly talking steel on steel right?

Yeah, I'll just use my regular Permatex stuff. I'm sure it'll be fine. I don't plan on ever taking out those bolts again anyways.

------ Follow up post added May 25th, 2015 07:37 PM ------

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimC

I use anti-seize for anything stainless to keep the threads from galling, but I don't rely on it exclusively to separate metals. I like to cut my favorite pond liner washers for lots of things and also make washers out of heavier plastic as well. I always have trouble getting the washers I want so that's why I cut my own.

As Jackie Treehorn pointed out, the M54 sometimes suffers from PCV/CCV problems. It can clog up and fill the engine with "mayonnaise" in cold weather. That's how the engine failed in our E46. To prevent that from happening to this engine, and to also lower evaporative emissions, I got a M56 valve cover that has the integrated CCV. The M56 is the "Super Ultra Low Emission" version of the M54 sold in California, New York, Massachusetts (2003 to 2006), and Vermont (2004 to 2006). It has a different plastic engine cover as well, which isn't quite as attractive in my opinion, but hey we're going for functionality here.